Technology plays a vital part in the successful running of any business. It is therefore essential that smaller and start-up businesses are taking full advantage, especially if they want to keep their business accessible to their customers and clients.
Technology Tips
1. You get what you pay for
Technology determines the quality of your communication. This does not mean that you need to get state-of-the-art kit, but investing now in reliable technology will not only help your businesses productivity, but will also allow you to build a good client/ customer relationship through being able to respond to queries immediately, and through maintaining regular contact with your clients and customers with emails and newsletters.
2. The face of your business
Company websites are one of the first things your potential customers see. They therefore play a crucial role in the communication between your business and its clients and customers. It is therefore important that your website has a clear message, is easy to navigate and has a clear call to action. Second to this, it can be a huge advantage to know your traffic sources, this way you can look at ways to enhance your website experience and increase your visitors.
3. Know your analytics
Through capturing the data from your website you can gain valuable insights. There are many applications that can help you to do this, such as Google Analytics and Ducksboard. These allow you to get an overview of your web traffic, enabling you to see how many visitors you are getting on a daily basis, where these visitors are coming from, what pages these visitors are viewing etc. Through understanding your website and the nature of your visitors, you can then begin to optimise your website by increasing your traffic sources and optimising the pages that are being viewed the most.
4. It is all about the cloud
For many SMEs data space poses a big problem. To solve this, there are now many affordable cloud storage services that enable businesses to back up important files online. Many of these services are free or incur only a small charge, such as Drop Box. Therefore, you no longer need to break the bank in order to have an effective and efficient cloud storage system in place.
5. Be mobile, but accessible
More and more business is now being done on the move. This has been made possible with Smartphones and Tablets, which are quickly replacing the traditional desktop PC’s. This now means that even if you are not based in the office you can still retain a strong client/ customer relationship.
6. The advent of teleconferencing
With flight tickets becoming more expensive, a reliable teleconferencing service can save you a huge expense. This is perfect for SMEs who do not have an unlimited pot to spend on business travel to meet their suppliers, customers and clients around the world. Instead, there are free online teleconferencing services that enable you to carry out face-to-face online meetings with your colleagues from around the world.
7. Look into your social media options
Social media is a great way for you to interact instantly with your customers and clients, as well as reach thousands of potential customers. However, there are hundreds out there. Do your research and pick the ones that best suit your brand and your audience. There is no point spending time using platforms that will not benefit your business.